"The most important goal in my life is to have some significant impact in preserving and expanding the realm of personal freedom in the life of this country.” Richard D. Obenshain

The Return of The Ron Paul Meetup

Back during the 2007-08 Republican Presidential Campaign, the phenomenon of the Meetup group was a bit of a peculiar oddity associated heavily with the Ron Paul movement. Across the country, ordinary (and often otherwise apolitical) folks gathered together in their own communities. In many cases, they did not have much experience with traditional campaigning, but came together to voice their support for the good doctor from Texas.

Here in my hometown of Harrisonburg, there were a group of us who advanced his candidacy in a multitude of ways; we made signs, we wrote letters, we discussed philosophy. Once I took an official position with the campaign and relocated down to South Carolina, like with Virginia, I discovered a whole host of Meetup groups in that state. They were all over the place: Greenville, Charleston, and Rock Hill…just to name a few.

Regardless of your feelings regarding Dr. Paul, you really should admire the remarkable way his candidacy attracted support. It wasn’t based so much on some sort of cult of personality, but rather to a steadfast commitment to the Constitution and the principles of limited government.

Well, I’m pleased to say that the Ron Paul Meetup groups are springing forth once more. Shenandoah County is the first area in the Shenandoah Valley to both reform their group and hold meetings in this new election season. Although it appears that the Charlottesville group has reactivated their organization from 2007 as well, as far as I can tell, they have not held a general meeting in this cycle yet.

But I’m here to offer a bit of good news to my fellow lovers of liberty and Ron Paul supporters in and around my own community. Although it is not an official Meetup group, there is a Harrisonburg & Rockingham County Facebook group devoted to Rep. Paul. That’s right! In fact, they will be holding the first gathering later today (July 31st).

So here at the details:

Location – Westover Park in Harrisonburg

Dogwood Drive and West Market Street

At the open pavilion

Time – starting at 6 PM!

Although I have a few important things to do today, I’m certainly planning to join my fellow Ron Paul supporters. If you like Ron Paul, or if you simply support the idea of liberty, I encourage you to come to the meeting.

Now, even if you live in another part of the state or country, you should find a group near you. If one doesn’t exist yet, go on Meetup.com and create it. Not only will you get the chance to meet like-minded individuals, but also, by being in a group you’ll be able to more effectively promote your ideology.

5 Responses

Just wanted to see if any of the readers or other libertarians picked up on the subliminal message about Ron Paul that was inserted into the AMC’s “Breaking Bad” episode aired on 08-07-2011? About 10 min into the show, the main character, Walter White, is reviewing a criminal case file with his brother in law, the DEA agent. As they flip though the pages of the file, with the DEA agent commenting on their search for the “master criminal”, the name Ron Paul is quickly seen on one of the pages of the case file (top, right hand side). It was shown so quickly it was hard to note, but since they air the episode a second time right afterwards, I stayed up and watched it with two other people, asking them to let me know if they saw it too. Three for three, all noticed the Ron Paul reference in the DEA file on the ‘master criminal” when they were told to watch for it.

Just wanted to see if anyone else picked up on it. As a subliminal message equating Ron Paul with the criminal underworld, it probably worked. Most viewers get the message, even though they do not consciously know they even saw it. I’d like to know who at AMC is authorizing this stuff.

Not really sure what to make of it. It is only on for a second so I don’t know if it necessarily is negative or positive for Dr. Paul. Would one equate Paul with meth dealers or is it more of a “hey, check out Ron Paul” moment? Personally, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. After all, as Oscar Wilde reminds us, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about”.